Big Mac prices by country
The Big Mac is the most-quoted price in economics. The Economist started publishing its Big Mac Index in 1986 as a light-hearted way to test purchasing-power parity — the theory that a currency should buy the same basket of goods anywhere. Because the burger is close to identical everywhere it is sold, the gap between what it costs in two countries is a rough read on whether a currency is over- or undervalued.
Below, one burger priced in 33 countries, cheapest first, in US dollars and in local currency.
The numbers
| Country | USD | Local | Work time |
|---|---|---|---|
| India | $2.51 | 227 INR | 60 min |
| Indonesia | $2.52 | 42,500 IDR | 69 min |
| Egypt | $2.65 | 125 EGP | 88 min |
| Vietnam | $2.89 | 76,000 VND | 62 min |
| Japan | $3.03 | 480 JPY | 11 min |
| South Africa | $3.36 | 54.9 ZAR | 45 min |
| China | $3.66 | 25.5 CNY | 40 min |
| South Korea | $3.74 | 5,500 KRW | 16 min |
| Thailand | $4.30 | 135 THB | 74 min |
| Brazil | $4.45 | 23.9 BRL | 59 min |
| New Zealand | $4.94 | 8.6 NZD | 13 min |
| Saudi Arabia | $5.07 | 19 SAR | 25 min |
| United Arab Emirates | $5.17 | 19 AED | 21 min |
| Lebanon | $5.36 | 480,000 LBP | 1.7 h |
| Argentina | $5.53 | 8,000 ARS | 1.6 h |
| Canada | $5.54 | 7.7 CAD | 15 min |
| Australia | $5.69 | 8.5 AUD | 13 min |
| Singapore | $5.78 | 7.45 SGD | 22 min |
| Turkey | $5.90 | 255 TRY | 89 min |
| United States | $6.12 | 6.12 USD | 15 min |
| Mexico | $6.17 | 109 MXN | 1.5 h |
| Poland | $6.25 | 22.7 PLN | 47 min |
| Germany | $7.05 | 6.08 EUR | 19 min |
| Spain | $7.05 | 6.08 EUR | 35 min |
| France | $7.05 | 6.08 EUR | 24 min |
| Ireland | $7.05 | 6.08 EUR | 21 min |
| Italy | $7.05 | 6.08 EUR | 30 min |
| Netherlands | $7.05 | 6.08 EUR | 21 min |
| Portugal | $7.05 | 6.08 EUR | 47 min |
| United Kingdom | $7.08 | 5.29 GBP | 24 min |
| Sweden | $7.26 | 67 SEK | 21 min |
| Norway | $7.52 | 76 NOK | 16 min |
| Switzerland | $9.08 | 7.3 CHF | 16 min |
Source: The Economist's Big Mac Index, January 2026 edition, which collects local-currency prices from McDonald's outlets and franchisee sites in 54 economies. Full methodology.
What the spread shows
The cheapest big mac in the game is in India at $2.51; the most expensive is in Switzerland at $9.08. That is a 3.6× difference for the same thing, against a median of $5.69 across all 33 countries.
Ranking by earnings instead of dollars rearranges the table. Lebanon has the longest wait — about 1.7 hours of the average local wage — while in Japan it is roughly 11 minutes. A country can look cheap in dollars and expensive in hours at the same time, and for most people the hours are what actually matter.